With Governor Brown’s signature, California joins the attack on BDS

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and California governor Jerry Brown (L) shake hands after signing a pact to strengthen economic and research ties between California and Israel at the Computer History Museum on March 5, 2014 in Mountain View, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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In a victory for Israel advocates, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill against the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement on Saturday.

Brown’s signature makes California the 13th state to enact an anti-BDS measure, most of which bar state contracts or pension funds from going to entities–non-profits or corporations–that support BDS. (12 of those states, including California, passed the law through the normal legislative process. In New York, though, Governor Andrew Cuomo bypassed the legislature and signed an executive order barring state funds from flowing to entities that support BDS.)

California’s law is slightly different than other states’ in that it requires a company who receives a state contract over $100,000 to certify, under penalty of perjury, that any policy they have against Israel, including a boycott, is not discriminatory. Legal organizations against the bill–the Center for Constitutional Rights, Palestine Legal and the National Lawyers Guild–have criticized the language as potentially leading to a floodgate of “complaints, investigations, and possible felony prosecutions into the thoughts and beliefs motivating a prospective contractor’s support for Palestinian human rights,” as they wrote in a letter opposing the bill.

Asked for comment on the bill, Deborah Hoffman, a spokesperson for Governor Brown, told Mondoweiss “we are letting the governor’s signature speak for itself and won’t be commenting any further.”

Brown’s decision is the latest victory for pro-Israel groups, who have lobbied legislators across the country to enact anti-BDS legislation. California is one of the most significant prizes for pro-Israel groups. It’s the most populous state in the country and activists groups on opposing sides of the issue have waged intense battles over BDS and Israel-Palestine. The University of California, Berkeley’s decision to suspend a class on Palestine and settler-colonialism–and then reverse that decision–was the latest case to make headlines in the state and the country.

Anti-BDS bills are pending in states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, and it is likely other states will consider similar legislation in the coming months.

The news that Brown signed the bill into law came as one the main groups pushing for the legislation, the Israeli-American Council, gathered in Washington, D.C. for a conference featuring the likes of Dennis Ross, Rudy Giuliani and Sheldon Adelson. Adam Milstein, the national chairman of the council, celebrated the “sensational news” on Twitter.

“The bill sends the clear and unmistakable message that the state of California wants no part of the goals and tactics of the BDS movement,” said Janna Weinstein Smith, the American Jewish Committee’s Los Angeles Regional Director, in a statement. The group had joined the Israeli-American Council in lobbying for the bill. “Thanks to this legislation, those who wish to target Jews and Israelis for discrimination will not be doing business with the state of California.”

Brown’s signature on the bill brings an end to a months-long battle over the precise text of the bill. Originally, the legislation, authored by Assemblymember Richard Bloom, a Democrat from Santa Monica, sought to bar state contracts over $10,000 from going to pro-BDS companies. Then, after lobbying by civil liberties groups and advocates of BDS, references to Israel and BDS were stripped out of the text. But Bloom ultimately succeeded in crafting language that his colleagues were comfortable with, and references to Israel and BDS were reinserted.

Estee Chandler, a leader in the Los Angeles chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, told Mondoweiss she was not surprised at the outcome of the fight over the BDS bill. Chandler and other Palestine solidarity activists had appealed to Brown by noting his friendship with and support for Cesar Chavez, the legendary Latino labor activist who used boycotts to win victories for farm workers.

“We’d hoped his history would play a role in his reading of this,” said Chandler. She is worried that the bill may impact church groups who receive state money and whose denominations have divested from firms linked to the Israeli army.

Still, Chandler added that the fight over Palestine and BDS is “not a short game but a long game. We need to take the example of the Palestinian people–they are committed and they are steadfast. And we need to keep moving on and keep doing what we do, keep educating the public and educating legislators, because if you wanna change US policy you need to change the understanding that legislators and staffers have of the situation.”

She said that during the campaign against Brown’s bill, she saw some success when staffers and legislators told her and other advocates, off the record, that they wanted the legislation to go away.

But those sentiments did not translate into many votes. Only two legislators–Assemblyman Mark Stone and Senator Bill Monning–voted no on the bill when it came up for votes in late August.

Brown’s office then fielded calls and e-mails from activists on both sides of the issue, asking him to veto or sign the legislation. On September 24, Brown made up his mind. He signed the bill into law, and California joined the growing number of states that have taken aim at the BDS movement.

About Alex Kane

Alex Kane is a freelance journalist who focuses on Israel/Palestine and civil liberties. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.

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7 Responses

One has to assume Jerry Brown is a religious man as he once considered the priesthood and in fact completed three years of training.I have to believe he subscribes to the concept of a life after and judgement day. Wouldn,t want to be him trying to explain to the powers that be why he stood with a colonialist oppressive Apartheid and murderous regime.

This still seems to me to be a rather empty gesture with few probable consequences. However, even as a gesture it reminds us how impregnable Zionism still is, despite the best efforts of the likes of us, in the political world of the Western countries. It’s not so impregnable in the world of education.

How can it be that we can boycott North Carolina for denying human rights to LGBT citizens but not a foreign country for denying a entire population basic human rights? How can we subsidize an aggressive apartheid regime to the tune of 38 billion dollars hat provides its citizens free education and free healthcare when our own citizens don’t have those things? How can Lindsay graham work so hard to give more of south Carolinas money to Israel when his state has so many impoverished citizens and how can he be elected over and over? When will the sheeple wake up?

It seems they are having an interesting BDS conference in Belfast Ireland. Max Blumenthal, Omar Bhagouti, and Dan Cohen will be some of the speakers. Perhaps our Irish friends here might be interested.

Momentum [pro-Corbyn campaign group] vice-chair Jackie Walker has suspended from Labour over controversial comments she made at a party training event.

Leaked footage showed the campaigner saying she had not found a definition of antisemitism she could work with. The footage also showed her questioning why Holocaust Memorial Day was not more wide-ranging to include other genocides.

Labour said it did not comment on individual party memberships but it is understood Walker has now been suspended. Labour MP John Mann called Walker’s comments “unacceptable in a modern political party” by any standard.

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[…]Walker, who along with her partner is Jewish, previously released a statement apologising for any offence. In an interview with Channel 4 News, she also questioned why Holocaust Memorial Day doesn’t mark genocides that occurred prior to the Nazis.

****

[…]She said whomever leaked the footage from a Labour party antisemitism training event “had malicious intent in their mind”. She also said she was anti-Zionist rather than antisemitic, adding: “I think Zionism is a political ideology, and like any political ideology, some people will be supportive and some people won’t be supportive of it. That’s a very different thing.”

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